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"If you are a dreamer, come in. If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, a Hope-er, a Pray-er, a Magic Bean buyer; if you're a pretender, come sit by my fire. For we have some flax-golden tales to spin. Come in! Come in!" -- Shel Silverstein

Monday, January 12, 2009

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor hail . . .


. . . nor even a snow storm will stop our family celebration of Little Christmas. In fact, it just prolonged it.

Our Massachusetts contingent were prevented from joining us, so we're just going there in two weeks.

Mackie and Abby got Butterscotch, the talking horse.

Don't ask . . .I have no idea. I just do what Nanas are supposed to do.

Abby also got a "Little People" Castle. Her father was thoroughly disgusted because when he was growing up, "Weebles" were ever so much better. He's right, actually. I suspect in 25 years, Weebles will be a collector's item.

I had the distinct feeling, in the moment he saw the "The Little People" that he was starting to feel old. It was a wickedly sweet moment.

Our girls LOVE to play games. Abby and our pup Lenny are getting ready to play a coloring game on Mia's iPhone. There was an amazing quiet for, oh, ten full minutes. And then Ms. CoCo got jealous and Mr. Lenny got even more needy and Ms. Abby got bored. You know. Like all families.

Mackie and Julie played a wicked game of "Travel Checkers." Mackie is a very good player, beating Julie 3 out of 5 games - and I should mention that Julie is the absolute Queen of Board Games.

Looks like she has a little competition for her crown.

The reverse side of the board is Tic Tac Toe, and I went head to head with Mackie in fierce competition, but it seems there's a few things her Nana can teach her grand daughter about strategy.

The children got together and bought us a new swing for Llangollen. Our son-in-law has even promised to come and put it together for us before the beginning of summer. We were more than pleased with our present.

We feasted on Chicken Piccata, red potatoes and broccoli (Ms. Conroy thought the red and green would look more like Christmas), and had a killer chocolate cake for dessert.

I'm pretty exhausted this morning - a bit like my car battery which was pretty low on juice this morning. I'm sitting here waiting for Triple A to come and give me a jump start. I wish someone could come give me a bit of a jump start on my day.

But, you know, the feeling of deep satisfaction of being part of this incredible family is a glow that keeps me warm on this absolutely frigid morning.

Christmas may only come once a year, but families - for good or for ill - are forever. So, why not make the best of them, if you can?

In the end, they are the best Christmas present ever - all year round - even in the midst of a frigid cold Monday morning after a snow storm.

5 comments:

Fran said...

Oh. The manifestation of what happens when gays marry.

Be afraid.

Children. Games. Pets. Food. Coloring. Boredom. More food. Love, lots of love.

I for one am scandalized.

Elizabeth Kaeton said...

I know, right?

Pretty scary.

Lindy said...

Glad you had a good time.

MadPriest said...

Top photo
Didn't Linda Blair in "The Exorcist" have green stuff coming out of her mouth?
I think it may be one of the signs to look for.

Elizabeth Kaeton said...

The child's mother has asked me at least twice to 're-baptize' her. "It didn't work the first time," she said. "The child is hell on wheels."

Well, no she isn't, exactly. She just has her mother's DNA.

She is her Nana's girl. Willful, my grandmother would say.

Very, very willful.